OAAS 2024 News – Building Community Leaders
Building Community LEADERS/ ONCA Information
The OAAS is pleased to provide programs and information to assist our agricultural societies to build leadership skills and strong agricultural society boards and assist them to update their governance documents.
Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) Information – since the ONCA legislation was introduced in 2021, the OAAS has been working to secure information and resources to assist our agricultural societies to ensure that their current Constitution and By-laws are compliant with ONCA and the Agricultural and Horticultural Organizations Act (AHOA). We have held several seminars/webinars and the information and recordings are listed under the ONCA Workshop Information dropdown. (Building Community Leaders)
Note: You can register for future workshops under the Webinars tab.(Building Community Leaders)
Building Community LEADERS program – Starting in 2024, OAAS will host several workshops across the province to offer the opportunity for two executive members from each agricultural society to participate in leadership and governance training.
Workshops – Each two-day workshop will use an experiential approach to deliver leadership, governance, risk management practices, and community engagement skills to participants.
Board Member Training – The OAAS has partnered with the Alberta Agricultural Societies for an excellent gamed-based online Board Member Training program. This training covers topics such as governance, board meetings, board structure, communication, roles and responsibilities, board development, risk management, and planning and strategic direction. (Building Community Leaders)
The theory of game-based learning (GBL) involves a new way of training volunteers and employees. We are talking about the use of games for learning. The demand for gamified content is increasing and getting more and more varied, with video games designed for nearly all target audiences and sectors.
Building Community LEADERS/ ONCA Information Menu:
Building Community Leadershttps://ontarioagsocieties.com/building-community-leaders/
History of Agricultural Fairs
By Guy Scott, OAAS Past President
Fairs are almost as old as recorded history. There were two types of ancient fairs: trade shows and festivals. From the biblical “Fairs of Tyre” to Sturbridge Fair in medieval England, fairs were used as market places and carnivals. In the 1700’s the British crossed the agricultural improvement society with the traditional trade fair/carnival and agricultural fairs were born.
These agricultural fairs were transplanted to the colonies by the earliest British settlers. The concept of fairs soon flourished in agrarian North America. In Canada, the first agricultural society was formed in 1765 in Nova Scotia. Ontario followed suit in 1792 with the Agricultural Society of Upper Canada based at Niagara on the Lake. From the Ontario strongholds, the concept of agricultural fairs spread west with the first settlers.
After a few false starts, the system of agricultural societies and their fairs spread all over Ontario in the 1800’s. They were organized by county and township and at one time numbered over 500 in Ontario alone. While agricultural societies used many methods (of varying success) to improve agriculture and the rural lifestyle, their most enduring and endearing legacy was the agricultural fair. Industrial exhibitions and festivals came and went, but the fairs just carried on. Fairs soon became an ingrained part of Ontario’s (and indeed Canada’s) culture. They still are, in our society.
Fairs have changed since their inception, but they still carry on their mandate of promoting agriculture and the rural lifestyle.
Want to see modern tradition meet the modern world? Attend a fair!
